Games became a big business worldwide. Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of interac-
tive games that could be played on a TV set back in 1966. He made a prototype of the first
home video game system, The Odyssey, in 1967, and the system was introduced in 1972. Atari
founder Nolan Bushnell brought out the first video arcade machine, Computer Space, in
- Games became big competition for television.
In the 1990s the fin-syn rules were eliminated, and the television networks were once
again allowed to own and sell their own shows. The production studios were not pleased.
The U.S. government’s reasoning was that there were now so many outlets for news and
entertainment, there was no longer the need to regulate the industry so tightly. This and the
formation of the European Union led to a big buying spree by the major entertainment
companies. The U.S. entertainment industry consolidated into just a few major companies
that could make and distribute their own products throughout the world.
Suddenly there was too much product, too many people in the animation business, too
few places for small companies to distribute their product, too few children watching any
single television show or film on any single day, and too little profit. With children’s pro-
gramming on cable every day all week long, Saturday morning was no longer special. Some
U.S. networks outsourced their entire Saturday morning children’s programming to another
company: CBS to Nelvana and then Nickelodeon, Fox to 4Kids Entertainment, and NBC to
Discovery Channel. Teenage and adult males, who had earlier expanded the market for ani-
mation, played video games or found other things to do. People outside of the United States
wanted to develop their own animated projects, and many companies worldwide felt very
capable of developing and producing animation on their own. Not only were the Europeans
and the Japanese selling their own programming locally, some of that locally produced pro-
gramming was selling to the U.S. market as well. A big influence on animation, globally, was
Japanese mangaand anime. Both the graphic anime style and the content influenced action
cartoons in the United States and some features as well, particularly in the 1990s and into
the new century. All of these factors sent profits down, and the U.S. animation industry suf-
fered massive layoffs. Even the companies that survived were not doing well. Many small
companies like Porchlight Entertainment began to look for co-productions with companies
internationally. Some companies began to tailor programming specifically for localized audi-
ences outside the United States.
Independent Animation in the United States
Worldwide a lot of independent animation has been rooted in art with little or no story.
European avant-garde-inspired artists like Maya Deren, painter Mary Ellen Bute, illustrator
Douglas Crockwell, painters Dwinell Grant and Jordan Belson, filmmaker Harry Smith,
photographer Hy Hirsch, plus Charles Eames and Saul Bass, who made films in the 1930s,
1940s, and 1950s. Some of the best-known, independent animators in the United States were
John and Faith Hubley (a writer) who made films like The Adventures of *, Moonbird, Of Stars
and Men, The Hole, Windy Day, Cockaboody, Everybody Rides the Carousel,andSecond
Chance: Sea. Jules Engel made Landscape, Accident, Train Landscape, Shapes and Gestures,
191928
Steamboat Willie, an early sound
film, makes Mickey Mouse famous.1929Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising make the first cartoon with dialogue,
Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid. Warner Bros. animation is born.